Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXII 7-8 Oct 2021
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Karia, Knidos AR Drachm. Circa 465-422 BC. Head and foreleg of roaring lion to right / Head of Aphrodite to right, wearing necklace, hair bound in taenia and in queue down neck, within incuse square. HNO 609 (temporary); Cahn, Knidos 79 (V38/R54); SNG Keckman 130; SNG Copenhagen -. 6.23g, 17mm, 9h.
Near Extremely Fine; from dies of charming style, with an attractive old collection tone.
Ex Gerhard Hirsch Nachfolger, Auction 352, 25 September 2019, lot 2395;
Ex A.W. Collection, formed prior to 2013.
Knidos was a city of high antiquity, probably of Lakedaemonian or Megaran colonisation. The cult of Aphrodite was well established there, with no fewer than three temples for the goddess within the city walls - one for Aphrodite Doritis (the oldest), one for Aphrodite Akraia, and one for the Aphrodite called Knidia, which housed the renowned statue of Aphrodite by Praxiteles.
This portrait of Aphrodite is of exquisite style. The goddess' features are gentle and refined, her neck slender, her ear delicate and her lips slightly parted. The tainia is, unusually, highly detailed and bears a reversed wreath pattern - an interesting contrast with the simple necklace of modest design that Aphrodite wears; her hair is similarly demure, tied behind her head. The engraver's art is neatly framed within the rim created by the narrow die, and is now accentuated by the coloured flashes that play upon the metal's surface.
Near Extremely Fine; from dies of charming style, with an attractive old collection tone.
Ex Gerhard Hirsch Nachfolger, Auction 352, 25 September 2019, lot 2395;
Ex A.W. Collection, formed prior to 2013.
Knidos was a city of high antiquity, probably of Lakedaemonian or Megaran colonisation. The cult of Aphrodite was well established there, with no fewer than three temples for the goddess within the city walls - one for Aphrodite Doritis (the oldest), one for Aphrodite Akraia, and one for the Aphrodite called Knidia, which housed the renowned statue of Aphrodite by Praxiteles.
This portrait of Aphrodite is of exquisite style. The goddess' features are gentle and refined, her neck slender, her ear delicate and her lips slightly parted. The tainia is, unusually, highly detailed and bears a reversed wreath pattern - an interesting contrast with the simple necklace of modest design that Aphrodite wears; her hair is similarly demure, tied behind her head. The engraver's art is neatly framed within the rim created by the narrow die, and is now accentuated by the coloured flashes that play upon the metal's surface.